The Ring
by Bee Sommer
Summary: House and Cameron have been together for about a year and a half, and are both still employed at PPTH. But when Cameron is on clinic duty and Cuddy comes in with some unfortunate news, how does she bear it?
1. Prelude

**Disclaimer:** _No, I don't own House. At all. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about him. Thanks "Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." for the definition of Prelude as according to my Microsoft Works dictionary. _

_**Notes: **So, this is my third House fanfic, but only the second I've submitted here. I'm still working the __other, which sort of ties in with Innocence. Anyways, I love to receive feedback because...I'm always looking to improve myself and my writing. Raters and reviewers are my new best friends! But yeah, excuse the extreme shortness here. I got what I wanted to down, and this is sort of a prologue._

prelude . an event or action that introduces or precedes something else, especially something longer and more important

"It...looks like you're pregnant. Congratulations!" Cameron grinned at the young woman sitting in front of her, a nervous wreck.

"No...this can't be happening. I...have to go."

The woman stood up and stumbled on her way out. Cameron rushed over to help her, saddened. How could this woman not want a child, she thought with a hint of what to anyone else would have seemed to be envy, but to her was mere longing. With her late husband, she had learned that she was infertile, but she was coping.

Cameron turned to watch as her patient exited the examination room. Seconds later, Cuddy entered the room with a stiff posture and cloudy eyes.

"Hello, Cuddy. Is something the matter?" Cameron inquired curtly.

"It's House. He's...here. He was involved in a potentially fatal accident, Cameron."

The air surrounding Cameron thickened; creeping through her lungs like swirling black smoke. The room spun before her, and before she could catch herself, her head hit the cold, white linoleum with a thud.


	2. Perusal

**Notes: **_So, I hope everyone likes the new chapter! I'm not really a person who writes really long chapters, I guess. Thanks to "Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." for the definition of perusal. lol. Thanks for all the support so far!_

perusal . to read or examine something in a leisurely or careful way

"Cameron? Are you all right?" asked a familiar voice. As Cameron slid back into consciousness, she felt like a camera zooming in on a picture that belonged to someone else. She focused in on the heads of Chase, Cuddy, and two concerned nurses. Her thoughts remained in the dark as she wondered where everyone else was. The quiet hospital became intrusive to her peace.

"I...I'm..." she stopped as the darkness of her mind lightened. House...a potentially fatal accident...his motorcycle. "I need to see him. Where is he?"

"Cameron, he's in ICU. We think we may lose him..." Chase spoke softly. He reached his hand out to touch her hair; she smacked him away.

"Leave me alone!" she cried as she got out of the hospital bed and ran out of the room.

"He's in room 150..." called Cuddy's fading voice. Down the hall, to the elevator. A wait to get in, a wait to get off. Every moment she lost felt like a piece of her soul was being ripped off. The run to his room was acid on her wounds. Tears streaked down her face; when she thrust open the door to his room, she saw him.

Bruised, with sutures on a variety of wounds on his face and arms. He was on life support, with tubes sticking out of his throat. His eyes were closed peacefully. _Is this the way someone looks when they're dead? Like they're just having a nap?_

"House..."

No response.

"Greg...?"

House's eyes fluttered, and when they opened completely, Cameron saw fear in them for the first time. Pure, raw fear. He looked around, lost like a child on his first trip to the grocery store when he first loses sight of his mom. Lost like a kitten running in the rain, desperately trying to find her way back to her home.

"House, it's me..."

His eyes met hers, his gaze was calculating, trying to infer from her actions why he was in a bed at his own hospital. Hot tears continued to run down her cheeks.

"House, your motorcycle...you were in an accident...they had to put you on life support..." she stopped to swallow, to try to breathe evenly. "...They don't expect you to - to live much longer..."

His eyes, that had always reminded her of a deep ocean, seemed to ask her a fearsome question. How long? It was one she would never want to answer, not for House.

"I don't know...they never said..." As she said these words, she moved towards him. She pulled a chair closer to his bed and sat down. Their gazes locked for many minutes, until at last his eyelids closed together, and he was asleep. She bent over his head, kissed his lips, and whispered 'I love you' into his ear. She laid her head on his chest that weakly rose and fell, until she, too, fell asleep.

* * *

Cameron awoke to the sounds of Wilson entering the room. He looked at her in sadness, but said nothing as he came to be by House's side. 

"Has anyone else been in?" she asked slowly.

"Nurses, Foreman, Chase, Stacey, Cuddy, his parents...everyone, I guess. He's not doing well...I think this is our last chance..."

Cameron soul seemed to sink from her heart to the floor. House...almost gone. It seemed impossible, yet so terribly real. Nothing like what she'd imagined House's death to feel like. Similar to, but more painful than the way she felt when her last husband died. Like she could never possibly be whole again. Like she could never love again, herself, or anyone else.

* * *

A single tear rolled of the side of Greg House's face. His eyes were closed, and his breathing slowed. Cameron's sobs took over the silence of the room. 

"I love you, House!"

He raised his right hand, the slightest bit. It was enough of response for her. She grasped it as his pulse thickened, decreasing in frequency. His heart gave one last beat; and she cried for him, for the children they could have had, and for herself. Every time she had truly loved someone, she lost them.


	3. Perfunctory

-1**Notes:** _So, this is chapter three. I'm so grateful for the response I'm getting! It's really encouraging! After this, there will be two more chapters, making five, and yes, each of the chapters' titles are underappreciated words beginning with p. Do you see any relation between the title and Cameron/the events? Yay for vocabulary and thanks to_ _"Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." for the definition of perfunctory._ _I hope you all like the new addition to "The Ring"! Keep the reviews coming!_

perfunctory . done as a matter of duty or custom, without thought, attention, or genuine feeling

"Cameron? Should I...get you a coffee?" Chase inquired timidly. Her reactions had grown unpredictable since House's passing, and Chase was one of the people who received the brunt of her anger.

"Sure," she spoke, her eyes as cold as stone.

"All right, then," he attempted, smiling. Her newly cold eyes calculated his actions in a way that seemed all too familiar. _Please, God, help her. Don't let her hurt turn into House...

* * *

_

"Cameron, are you sure you don't want to take some more time off?" Cuddy asked, full of concern. She eyed Cameron carefully.

"I'm fine," she replied.

_Cameron's beginning to look at me with House's eyes._ Cuddy moved her arm towards Cameron's shoulder, her intentions good. Cameron's eyes met hers, and Cameron spun on her heel and left the room, without a glance back. Cuddy winced as the door slammed shut.

* * *

"So, would you like me to see the patient in exam room three?" Foreman looked through her cold eyes, searching for the Cameron that used to exist. 

"No, I'll do it," she replied, and left promptly.

* * *

Cameron slowly turned the doorknob to House's office. Everything looked so calm, yet so eerie. The quiet silence that crept through the room was like another wave of devastation to her, but she could not break. Her eyes were dry stones after a rain. There were people who needed her to be strong.

She walked over to the window and twisted open the blinds. Rain streaked the surface of the window, and she stared out into the abyss of darkness until a dull pain in her temple morphed itself into a full blown headache. She turned to his desk, and began searching for his Vicodin. Once she had found the pills, she slipped two into her pocket, and left the room in slow, long strides.

Wilson walked up to her, his eyes full of the concern he usually saved for House.

"Cameron, there's something I think you should know. House...when you were asleep, he woke up for a few minutes. He kept looking at the drawer his clothes were in, and...well, I left them alone, but I think you might want to check it out."


	4. Penultimate

**Notes:** Well, this is the second last chapter. Yay! I'm just dying, waiting for the 29th (new episode of House), but fanfiction helps me with the wait. XD Sorry for the wait...I had exams this week and they took over. Once again, the definition is from "Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." So thanks so much, everyone, for supporting "The Ring"! See you soon for the last chapter!

penultimate . second to last in a series or sequence

Cameron's eyes opened, and looked at Wilson for the first time since House died. _His clothes?_

"They're in Cuddy's office...she hasn't touched them, though." Wilson paused, moving a few steps closer and softening his voice. "He really cared, Cameron. He...wouldn't want you to live like him." Something seemed to register in Cameron's eyes, the flicker of hope that was rare for anyone at Princeton Plainsboro these days. She nodded the slightest bit, and turned to walk quickly to Cuddy's office.

* * *

Cameron looked up into Cuddy's eyes, a question forming on her lips. Cuddy smiled gently as she gestured toward a garbage bag to her left. Cameron walked up to Cuddy with a shy, thankful smile playing on her lips, and hugged her. Cuddy walked out and shut the door gently, allowing Cameron to be alone and enjoy happiness.

Cameron collapsed to her knees as her mind emptied itself of everything but House's clothes. Ripping the bag open, her heart pounded through her chest. His smell wafted out of the bag. Cameron inhaled sharply; the familiar scent was so welcome, but she had grown so unaccustomed to it.

Cameron drew House's clothes from the bag. _Did he really love me? He never told me_, she thought, recalling the bittersweet memories of their relationship: the monster truck show, their disastrous first date, and the second that occurred a year later. It had worked out; somewhere between the movie and dinner House had truly seemed to find some happiness.

Smiling, she lifted his leather jacket and put it on. Her hands moved back to her side and she felt something hard in the pocket. For a moment, she froze, until she gained the courage to discover what was inside. She looked in her hand to find a small, blue box.

Cameron slowly opened the box, to find a diamond ring with a gold band. She slipped it onto her left ring finger. "Oh my God," she whispered. "He...did love me."


End file.
